About Us

The WDT exists because we are committed to being a family of churches which has a desire to know and love God - in short, we are serious about worship - and want to equip leaders and churches to be passionate worshippers of God.

This site is designed to stimulate, provoke and encourage worship in all its forms within our family of churches and beyond. It will hopefully stimulate fresh thinking, new songs and ideas whilst at the same time holding on to the unchanging values of scripture. The site is not just for musicians; worship isn't just about music. It's about everyday life, including things like poetry and prose, painting and sculpting as well as every type of music. It is our desire to broaden our worship frontiers; to move beyond our present perameters into new terrain.

The WDT has come out of a conviction that worship needs to be encouraged and developed across the church at large and specifically within the Salt and Light family of churches. You can find out about some of the ways we hope to do this through our website.

We recognise we do not have all the answers but hope to create an atmosphere of open and honest communication with those involved in worship - looking to serve each other in all we do.

Gary Bastin

Gary is married to Marianne, they live in Basingstoke and lead Town Centre Church (part of Basingstoke Community Churches). He has been playing music for many years including a (nearly) famous performance onstage at the London Palladium. He now plays guitar, drums and percussion. In his youth he died his hair jet black.

Bill Nisbet

Bill is married to Sally and have two grown up sons, Paul and Jonathan. They come from the sunny seaside resort of North Berwick, about 20 miles east of Edinburgh, and lead North Berwick Christian Fellowship. Bill is the Editor of DI Magazine. Amongst other things Bill leads worship and enjoys playing the guitar.

Simon and Gaynor Shaw

Simon and Gaynor met whilst studying in Oxford 12 years ago. Simon is the Principal of King's Bible College and Training Centre (see www.kbctc.org). They are also both part of the leadership team at Oxford Community Church where they help plan a monthly Guest Service.  

Gaynor enjoys leading the KBCTC Chapel Team into creative ways of worshipping God. They both enjoy a good film, good food and good company.

Jon and Rachel Bowen

The European team is no longer solely confined to Europe! Recently Jon and Rachel Bowen moved from Derby to New Zealand …

So here we are 'down under' as you say 'up over'. No one here calls it down under! It's been a funny old time settling in to life over here … new job, new house, new friends, new songs! The people at Christian Community Church in Palmerston North have really made us feel welcome and we're settling in well. It's been good to experience first hand some of the things that the Salt and Light family of churches has in common across the world.

We've discovered a shared emphasis on:

• relationships and accountability
• church as community
• worship that focuses on the character of the Godhead
• the importance of eating together!

We're involved in the worship team and have been leading worship at the Sunday morning 'family worship' meeting as well as Sunday evening 'Night Church', which is primarily aimed at and attended by students, older youth and anyone young at heart. One of the joys of moving to the other side of the world has been singing some different songs! We've been particularly impacted by the songs of Cindy Ruakere from The Edge City Church in Auckland (another in the Salt and Light family). There are a few copies of her most recent album 'Hararu' around the UK churches - do have a listen if you can get hold of a copy.